From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Caribbean Peoples/Frances Henry
Religion is an extremely important institution in Caribbean societies, and there is a wide range of religions, Christian and non-Christian, in the region. In addition to the Roman Catholic Church, every denomination of Protestant Christianity can be found, although, in terms of membership numbers, the Anglican Church probably predominates. In addition to the many denominational churches, there is also a wide variety of Pentecostal, fundamentalist, and revivalist churches that are not affiliated with a denomination and often operate entirely independently. There are also Moslem mosques and Hindu prayer centres serving the substantial populations of Asian-Indian origin, primarily from Trinidad and Tobago and from Guyana. The Caribbean is also home to Rastafarianism, a new religion that started in Jamaica during the 1930s. Born as a protest movement among the unempowered, it has continued to attract working and underclass members who are equally disempowered in Jamaican society today.
The majority of Caribbean immigrants maintain their strong commitment to religion. In fact, patterns of worship constitute one of the most important cultural elements retained in Canada. Church attendance on Sunday is a weekly event for most immigrant families, although primarily for the parental generation. Age and generation therefore play a role in the maintenance of religious patterns of behaviour.
All the denominations found in the Caribbean are represented in Canada. These range from the formal Anglican to the less formal Baptist, Moravian, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others in that category. Several churches have, through immigration, become multicultural in membership.
An increasingly important aspect of Caribbean religion as practised in Toronto is the major role that independent fundamentalist churches are beginning to assume in the community. These churches are usually derived from Protestantism but are not affiliated with any denomination. Many are initiated by a person who usually believes that she or he has been “called.” Members of the congregations in these churches have usually been fundamentalists at home where the fundamentalist movement, as in Canada, is associated with the working class. Middle-class members of the community generally attend the denominational Protestant or Catholic churches.
The racism many Caribbean immigrants have experienced when they attempted to join mainstream places of worship has been a powerful deterrent to their efforts at integration into Canadian society. A considerable number of immigrants have been made to feel unwelcome in their denominations of choice by the largely white congregations and leaders. Such exclusionary attitudes and practices, in addition to the desire to worship among themselves, have led to the establishment of the growing number of Caribbean churches in places of high group concentration like Toronto. The practice of their religion and, more specifically, the deeply held religious faith of many Caribbean people appear to give meaningful support to lives in Canada and also provide a powerful buffer against the pain and humiliation of racism.
Political participation in mainstream politics is one of the most important avenues of advancement open to ethnic or immigrant communities. The Caribbean community in Canada has, for the most part, not yet established the level of cohesion necessary to take an active part in the political process. Most Caribbean immigrants have arrived in Canada relatively recently, the majority of them in the last twenty-five years. Of necessity, their foremost concern has been for basic economic and social survival, and generally they have not yet been able to devote time and energy to politics. Also, although they are highly concentrated in Ontario, specifically in and around Metropolitan Toronto, Caribbean immigrants do not constitute a large enough block of voters in any one riding to attract the attention of political candidates seeking large numbers of votes.
Caribbean immigrants who have been elected to office are few in number. In some instances a lack of citizenship has prevented individuals from running for office. There is, however, one black Caribbean member of the federal Parliament and one black member of the provincial legislature in Ontario. Most immigrants with political aspirations are attracted to federal politics, but recently people in the Caribbean community have begun to recognize the importance of the elections for municipal offices and positions on school boards. There are now a few Caribbeans in office at the municipal and other local levels of government.
